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Blink and you missed it – after four weeks, the fourth season of “Extreme Couponing” that started off relatively strong has come to a lackluster end. The final episodes attracted some of the lowest ratings of the entire series, which raises the question – could the just-ended season be the last?

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The season premiere of the TLC series last month earned decent ratings (read: “‘Extreme Couponing’ Ratings Show We’re Not Tired of it Yet”), attracting just over a million viewers. Not bad for a once-buzzworthy show that’s not quite the novelty it once was. But it was all downhill from there.

The month’s worth of original episodes, run back-to-back on Tuesday nights, drew less of an audience as time went on. The slow decline ended this past Tuesday, with the season finale featuring “Zadia & Briana” bottoming out as the lowest-rated non-“All Stars” original episode of the entire series. (The “All-Stars” incarnation of the series is in a class of its own – more game show than reality show, like a “Supermarket Sweep” with coupons, fans just weren’t that interested.) Zadia and Briana brought in about 700,000 viewers, just slightly more than the three lowest-rated All-Stars episodes, and only about one-fourth the audience that watched the series premiere, “J’aime & Tiffany”, back in April 2011.

Even more troublesome, while the 10pm “Amanda & Jess” episode did slightly better than 10:30pm’s “Zadia & Briana”, it still lost about 40% of the audience that watched its lead-in, “Little People Big World: Wedding Farm.” In other words, about two out of every five people who watched that show, changed the channel instead of sticking around to watch Extreme Couponing.

A TLC spokesperson, show producer Sharp Entertainment and its parent company CORE Media did not immediately respond to requests for comment, or to say whether the show has been renewed or is planning a fifth season. A reality show with no regularly recurring stars costs relatively little to produce, and it costs TLC nothing to rerun it endlessly, or make the entire library available online. But with the regular-edition rerun package at a nice even 40 episodes now, the network will have to consider the value of ordering up any new shows, when diminished buzz is likely to result in continually declining viewership.

That could come as welcome news to couponers who have criticized the show for bending the rules and even looking the other way as outright coupon fraud was committed (read: “‘Extreme Couponing’ Returns – For Better or Worse”). One grocery chain last year even issued a public apology for allowing the show to shoot an episode in one of its stores. “Things aren’t as they always appear,” Lowes Foods said, in accusing the show of staging scenes. Calling its participation in the show a “mistake”, Lowes announced that “we have declined and have no intention of participating in future tapings.” TLC counters that the show is meant to be entertaining, and doesn’t present itself as a how-to documentary. “The show is more about the people who coupon, than to learn how to coupon,” a TLC spokesman told the Baltimore Sun.

Regardless, with the economy improving, coupon use on the decline and fickle TV audiences looking for the next new thing, it could be that Extreme Couponing has simply run its course. For old time’s sake, review the following list, exclusive to Coupons in the News, featuring the Nielsen rating and total audience for each episode of the series. Whether the list gets any longer, depends on whether TLC can stomach the numbers getting any smaller.

Episode # Featuring Premiere date Viewers Rating (adults 18-49)
100 (Pilot) Amanda, Joanie, Joyce, Nathan 12/29/2010 2.1 m 1.3
———- ———- ———- ———- ———-
101 J’aime & Tiffany 4/6/2011 2.602 m 1.3
102 Rebecca & Jessica 4/6/2011 2.602 m 1.3
103 Tai and Tarin & Nathan 4/13/2011 1.999 m 0.9
104 Missy & Amy 4/20/2011 2.265 m 1.0
105 Desirae & Stephanie 4/27/2011 1.736 m 0.9
106 Chris & Antoinette 5/4/2011 1.874 m 0.9
107 Amber & Tammilee 5/11/2011 1.411 m 0.6
108 Chrystie & Treasure 5/18/2011 1.411 m 0.6
109 Amber & Amanda 5/25/2011 1.484 m 0.7
110 Kelly & Rebecca 6/1/2011 1.706 m 0.8
111 Joni & Angelique 6/8/2011 1.563 m 0.8
112 Scott & Jen 6/15/2011 2.149 m 1.0
———- ———- ———- ———- ———-
201 Judy & Faatima 9/12/2011 1.164 m 0.5
202 April & Carla 9/28/2011 1.217 m 0.6
203 Erin & Shavon 9/28/2011 1.090 m 0.5
204 Michelle & Kelly 10/5/2011 0.855 m 0.4
205 Michelle & Tyler 10/5/2011 0.942 m 0.5
206 Callie & Kelly 10/12/2011 0.963 m 0.4
207 Perry & Melissa 10/19/2011 1.206 m 0.6
208 Katherine & Joel 10/26/2011 1.381 m 0.7
209 Heather & Bree 11/2/2011 1.253 m 0.6
210 Missy & Nicole 11/9/2011 1.084 m 0.5
211 KT & Erin 11/16/2011 0.965 m 0.5
212 Chris & Joni 11/23/2011 0.776 m 0.3
———- ———- ———- ———- ———-
AS01 All-Stars: Carla vs. Faatima 12/27/2011 0.979 m 0.4
AS02 All-Stars: Chris vs. Michelle 12/27/2011 0.972 m 0.4
AS03 All-Stars: Jen vs. Joni 1/3/2012 0.742 m 0.3
AS04 All-Stars: Antoinette vs. Judy 1/3/2012 0.618 m 0.3
AS05 All-Stars: Jessica vs. Perry 1/10/2012 0.561 m 0.2
AS06 All-Stars: Callie vs. Melissa 1/17/2012 0.601 m 0.3
AS07 All-Stars: Finale 1/24/2012 0.872 m 0.4
———- ———- ———- ———- ———-
301 Erin & Dominique 5/28/2012 1.217 m 0.5
302 Cole & Angelique 5/28/2012 0.963 m 0.4
303 Jeff & Kelly 6/4/2012 1.077 m 0.4
304 Joyce & Aprille 6/4/2012 0.980 m 0.4
305 Adrienne & Sarah 6/11/2012 1.125 m 0.6
306 Lisa & April 6/11/2012 1.008 m 0.5
307 Jane & Judy 6/18/2012 0.984 m 0.4
308 Krista & Amanda 6/25/2012 0.990 m 0.4
———- ———- ———- ———- ———-
401 Rudy & Gia 11/13/2012 1.028 m 0.5
402 Julie & Faatima 11/13/2012 0.982 m 0.5
403 April & Chasity 11/20/2012 0.731 m 0.3
404 Pam & Broderick 11/20/2012 0.827 m 0.4
405 Susan & Cole 11/27/2012 0.876 m 0.4
406 Maryann & Haley 11/27/2012 0.832 m 0.4
407 Amanda & Jess 12/4/2012 0.777 m 0.3
408 Zadia & Briana 12/4/2012 0.706 m 0.3

4 Comments

  1. I’m sorry but I miss this show – and yes I’m a couponer who obeys the rules

  2. I for the first time actually watched Extreme Couponing the girls did very well they have to do a lot of hard work and research to get those coupons and to organize their things so that they can buy them what I see here is they get hundreds of things that they could actually donate the shelter’s who needs 300 tubes of toothpaste 400 sanitary napkins 700 rolls of paper towels 700 deodorants who needs that shelters need that that to me is it now I’m actually watching Julian Fatima with the trainer that girl tolerated more from that trailer than I ever would and I’m in perfect shape that’ll be the day any man says something like that to me instead of slapping the candy out of his hand as he was not in his face I’m proud of her she did what she was supposed to do but I’m also proud of the fact that she’s accomplishing something now if she were to donate a lot of that to the test of the shelter’s women shelters for kids Feed the Children do something with those groceries because now she’s become a hoarder just like every other coupon out here they are hoarders instead of using what you need for your family for a month supply and not sharing it that is great that is hoarding that is selfishness that is disrespectful to the people who actually need it your home with your children you are starving every day you don’t get a meal because their father and mother might be addicts or don’t have the money to buy me know because I don’t get enough pay think about this ladies we could do a helluva lot more with what you have in your basement then you can’t by hoarding it

  3. I hope to see the day that these extreme couponer NAZIS are put out of business once and for all. As a cashier at a local chain store, I’ve had the effing b*tches come in with their crying babies on their fat hips just knowing that I’ll relent and allow them to get something for free. Screw it! I’ll let the line back up for a mile rather than let one of these pieces of filth have their way. A note to all extreme couponers: hang it up… NOW! You’re nothing but a pain in the @$$!!

    • Sam, I am sorry for your bad experience with extreme couponing. I am a couponer at heart but I follow the store rules and make sure I am up to date with any policy changes. These show gave the impression that you can walk in any store and pay for nothing, which is not true. This show changed how real couponers shop. Stores used to allow more then 8 items and double coupons, not anymore. One store near me no longer doubles because of these stupid show. The only reason couponing is going down the toliet because people allowed this show to make them think it was going to be easy. Lot of people just don’t have the time.

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